The California, US-based preclinical contract research organisation (CRO) licensed commercialization rights to the patient-derived xenograft models from researchers at the University of York.
The collection includes models derived from pretreated and naïve material, plus examples of both clinically diagnosed castration-resistant (CRPC) and hormone sensitive prostate cancers.
Crown plans to further develop the cell lines to create models of prostate cancers that are resistant to current clinical therapies.
Company president Jean-Pierre Wery said the licensed technologies will be marketed alongside Crown’s HuPrime range of preclinical models.
UK expansion
The deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – comes a month after Crown announced its intention to further increase capacity at its sites in Loughborough and Nottingham in the UK.
Crown first said it would double capacity at its Nottingham lab – which it gains through its takeover of PDX models firm Precos – in January 2015. However, in December it said it would also expand the Loughborough laboratory.
The Loughborough laboratory specialises in the development of research tools for scientists studying hormone-associated cancers, including prostate cancer.
The deal with York University – which is 100 miles north of the Loughborough laboratory – last expanded its model offering in February 2015 when it bought Molecular Response’s PDX (patient-derived xenograft) models.